1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic sign displays, but more particularly, refers to an electronic sign enclosure which is ventilated to provide for cooling of components contained inside the enclosure and which also provide structure to allow washing of the exterior of the electronic sign display without damage to the contained components therein.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art electronic display enclosures often provided for ventilation of the components of an electronic sign, such as power supplies, driver boards, light emitting diode mounting boards, front viewing structures, and the like. Such ventilation schemes often included ventilation fans, ventilation ducts, ventilation holes, and other openings conducive to offering adequate ventilation to remove heat generated by electronic components and heat generated by environment heat sources. Often, environmental substances would hamper suitable viewing or operation of the electronic display due to buildup of dust, dirt, grime, smoke deposits, airborne particles of other composition, small insects, cobwebs, insect deposits, or other substances found in the environment. Such substances could detrimentally gather or be deposited upon viewable front structures of an electronic sign display, such as on exposed pixels, on exposed clear front protective panels, on or about louvers, or even about ventilation orifice structure. Several simple methods have been attempted to cleanse the structure of an electronic sign display from such substances. One such method could involve the use of small or large brooms, or like devices, but the use of such could be laborious or impractical due to the location of the electronic sign, or even by time constraints. Another method is by the use of water or other suitable fluid forcefully sprayed by a pressurized hose or other pressurized device. While the use of sprayed liquid streams can be highly effective for cleaning the exterior of an electronic sign display, fluids often found their way into the interior of the enclosure, thus being potentially harmful to the components inside. Hence, a problem exists wherein an electronic sign could be well sealed against cleansing by fluid spray and have, for the most, inadequate ventilation, or an electronic sign could be well ventilated at the expense of adequately sealed protective enclosure structure. Additionally, construction of such electronic signs is labor intensive, such as during factory fabrication where alignment coupled with drill matching and measurement procedures contribute to additional labor and cost. Onsite construction techniques were required for addition of upper level protective shrouds which bridge adjacent sign structures. Other construction procedures are often hampered by the use of extruded materials which are not always as straight and true as desired. The present invention offers structure addressing the problems encountered in prior art electronic signs or electronic sign enclosures by providing a ventilated washable electronic sign display enclosure, whereby adequate ventilation is provided and where structure is provided to thwart the entry of sprayed fluids thereinto. The use of formed structure contributes to uniformity of the sign structure.